Jakarta, IO – Dengue remains a public health problem. Globally, most dengue cases reported are from Latin America and Southeast Asia. 3,766,153 infection cases and 3,582 deaths were reported as of 19 December 2022. The countries with the highest number of cases are Brazil (2,182,229), Vietnam (325,604), Philippines (201,509), India (110,473), Indonesia (94,355) with a majority of deaths being in Brazil (929), Indonesia (852), Philippines (656), Vietnam (112), and India (86).
In Indonesia, the average number of dengue cases is 121,000 per year, with the annual number of deaths at 666 over the last 5 years. Up to the 52nd week of 2022, out of the 131,265 cases recorded, 50% occurred among children aged 0-14 years, with 73% out of the 1,183 deaths reported also occurring among children in the same age group. This figure has increased over 2021 data, with 73,518 cases and 705 deaths recorded. The 5 municipalities/cities with the highest number of dengue cases were Bandung City (4,672), Bandung (3,222), Bekasi (2,332), Depok (2,102), and Sumedang (2,086).
“The Province of West Java has the highest number of new cases at 33,400, with 285 deaths, followed by East Java (12,123 new cases, 132 deaths) and Central Java (12,047 new cases, 249 deaths). Dengue infection is easily found in densely-populated urban areas. Analysis shows that the occurrence of the disease correlates with climate, and that it comes in cycles of 5-6 years,” reported dr. Imran Pambudi, MPH, Ministry of Health’s Director of the Prevention and Control of Communicable Diseases, in the “Pave the Way to Innovative Dengue Prevention” media discussion held in Jakarta last Sunday (05/02/2023).
“The peak of dengue cases occurs during the onset of El Niño and La Niña. The dry weather anomaly causes ambient temperatures to rise, in turn arousing the dengue cause vector Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, as the females become much more active and vicious, as we can see in the 2016 and 2019 cycles. It also has a monthly cycle, wherein the number of cases tends to increase during the rainy season, from November to April, because water tends to puddle up during this time. Fogging is not effective to prevent infection – you’d do better to actively eliminate mosquito nests, using the “3M Plus” method and maintaining the sanitation of your neighborhood. People also continue to develop the “Wolbachia Technique”, which uses the Wolbachia bacteria to control the replication of the dengue virus, as an innovative means to prevent the disease,” dr. Imran said.